Playing-cards.



No. 7l2,566.- I Patented Nov. 4, I902.

H. MULLER PLAYING CARDS.

{Application filed Feb. 12, 1901.1

l (No Mode lJ WITNESSES: V INVENTOR ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE'.

HERMAN MOLLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y. i

PLAYlNG-CARDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 712,566, dated November 4, 1902.

Application filed February 12, 1901. Serial No. 47,021. (No model.) i

T at whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, HERMAN MoLLER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, county of-New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Playing-Oards, of

, which the following is a specification, referonce beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates to improvements in playing-cards, the object thereofbeing to provide a set of cards comprising fifty-two values embodied in but twenty-six objects, whereby the bulk of the pack or pile is reduced by onehalf for facility in handling and various and novel games and combinations not suitable for ordinary playing-cards can be indulgedin.

The invention will be hereinafter fullydescribed, and specifically set forth in the annexed claim.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are face views of a sufficient number of the cards to illustrate the general arrangement of the face values or denominations.

In the practice of my invention I employ twenty-six cards which are printed with-the suits in pairs, diamonds and clubs being together on 'half of the pack and hearts and spades on the other half.

The face of each card A is of rectangular contour, divided by a line a into spaces a and (1 having denominations of different values as follows: The spaces a of the first four cards will contain the four acesdiamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades-and the spaces a will have the four jacks, the ace of diamonds, as 1, being on the space a of the card A and the jack of clubs, as 2, on the space o The next aceclubs, for instancewill be printed on the space a of a card having a jack of diamonds on its space (t the ace of hearts will be coupled with the jack ofspades and the ace of spades with the jack of hearts. The queens are coupled with the deuces in the same relative arrangement of clubs and'diamonds and hearts and spades, the deuces, as3, being on the spaces a, and the queens, as 4, on the spaces o The kings are coupled with the trays, the tens with the fours, the nines with space containing the ace. can then play a tray of clubs or a deuce of the fives, and so on down to the eights, which are coupled with the sixes; but the four sevens are contained on two cards, as illustrated by Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, the clubs and diamonds and the spades and hearts being together, as on the other cards, whereby a full set of playing-card values is contained on but twenty-six cards to provide a novel and interesting means for playing games not susceptible of being playedby use of an ordinary deck of cards such, for instance, as the following-described game, which I call pyramids and which is played by from two to five persons, as follows: Five cards are dealt to each player. The first player must then play a card comprising an ace andjack, and he places it on the table face up in avertical position. Say this player plays an ace of clubs,

the next player must either play another ace or a deuce of clubs. If another ace is played, it must be placed at the right ofthe first ace and parallel therewith; butifa deuce ofclubs is played the card bearing the deuce must be placed on a horizontal line at right angles with the first card played and to the left thereof, with the end of the card containing the deuce abutting against the side-edge of the The next player the suit of the second ace played, or, if he has no card capable of-being played, he draws from the pack until the right card is produced or until saidpack is exhausted. The pyramid is then built downwardly from each side, the cards being played in relation and placed alternately in verticaland horizontal position until the-full twenty-six cards are played or until any player exhausts hiscards, which ends and wins the game for that deal. The game is played for pointssayonehundred-and the winner. of each deal gets ten points for winning and one point for each points.

points.

twenty points. The jack of the next suit to the trumps is the next highest card, and is counted fifteen points. The other jacks and the kings and queens are counted each twelve The spot-cards, from ace to ten, are counted points of the same number as the number of spots on each. Thus deuce is reckoned as two points, tray as three points, and so on up to ten. To play this game, the cards are shuffled and dealt five cards to each player as in common euchre and a card for trumps turned in the same way. The suit of the end of the card so turned which is of the highest value is to be the trump-suit for that deal-as, for instance, if the queen of diamonds and the deuce of clubs were turn ed up then diamonds would be the trn mp-suit. The dealer has the privilege of taking up the card so turned and making a discard of one card from his hand. The tricks are then played as in ordinary euchre, except that when a card with a trump on one end is played the whole trick is played with regard to trumps. When neither end of the leading card contains a trump, the suit of the greater value leads in the trick and the trick is played as if it had led. After the trumpjack and the jack of the next suit the value of the cards is in this order: kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines, and the various spot-cards in order down to ace, which in this game is the lowest card in the pack. The tricks are taken on this estimate of the value of each card just as they are in euchre. When the deal has been played out, each player counts the points in his hand. He counts both ends of each. card. Thus suppose he has a queen with a deuce. That counts him fourteen The left bower and an ace counts sixteen points. Fourteen and sixteen points added together make thirty points. So he counts as above indicated and adds up all the points in his hand. The player who first gets a hundred points Wins the game.

If it should happen that in turning up the trump the card should be two sevens, the next card is turned, so as toget a card whose ends differ in value.

It is obvious that many other games may be played With my invention and that the calculation necessary to reckon the points is a good mental exercise to train young'persons in arithmetic.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The within-described pack of playing-cards, comprising but twenty-six cards, each card divided by a line a, into two equal parts a, a and having in these divisions, inscribed common-cardvalues of different suits and colors, and one value only of each suit and color, being inscribed in one division, an orthodox red suit being combined with an orthodox black suit on each card, the order being the ace of the suit of one color combined with the jack of an opposite color, thedeuce of one color with the queen of an opposite color, the tray of one color With the king of an opposite color, then the four with the ten, this latter order of progressive approaching combination being maintained until the last two cards contain combinations of sevens of opposite-color suits to complete the relative combination among the entire number of cards.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 6th day of February, 1901.

HERMAN MOLLER. Witnesses:

BELLE PATERSON, SOPHIA HARNISCH. 

